Thursday, November 19, 2009

I came home from working at the library last night & was greeted with the smell of chiles, cinnamon, pumpkin & a just a hint of chocolate, amazing. Nothing like coming home to a dinner cooked by your husband, especially one that smelled & tasted as good as this one.We picked up some baking pumpkins earlier this fall at the farmers' market & Matt said he wanted to use one to make chili. He took the inspiration for this chili from the flavors of molé. It's a rich, dark chili with lots of layers of flavor, a slight sweetness from the pumpkin, spiciness from the chiles, a little bitterness from the beer, smokiness from the cumin and that distinctive flavor of cinnamon.

Cut the pumpkin in half, seed & remove pulp. Cut into 8 wedges. Coat with a little olive oil & season with salt & pepper. Place on a baking sheet & roast for about 45 minutes until soft. Remove skin & cube. Save 2 cups for the chili (any remaining pumpkin can be frozen for another use).